India-pakistan Talks On Kashmir Progress

NEW DELHI — In their first talks in three years, longtime rivals Pakistan and India reported progress Saturday on the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir while violence over the issue continued .

On Sunday outside Srinagar, nine policemen were injured when an explosive device tied to the body of a slain guerrilla went off, police said.

They said the explosion occurred when police were examining the body in Kupwara police station near the India-Pakistan border north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. The explosive device was in a pouch tied to the body of a Muslim militant killed in a gunbattle Saturday night, police said.

On Saturday in the city of Jammu, at least 18 people died in a bus station bombing.

In New Delhi, the negotiators met for more than two hours on the second day of closed talks during a four-day visit by Pakistani officials.

"The pace of talks is as expected, neither slow nor too fast," Khalid Saleem, a spokesman for the Pakistani delegation, told reporters. He and Indian officials said there had been progress but provided no details.

Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim region in the Himalayas that both countries claim, has sparked two wars between the neighboring countries. India controls two-thirds of Kashmir and Pakistan the rest.

For years, Muslim rebels have been fighting Indian security forces for independence in Jammu-Kashmir state. They were suspected of having planted a bomb that exploded on a passenger bus at a station in Jammu on Saturday. At least 18 people were killed and 40 injured.

A second blast occurred at the station a short time later. No one was injured.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts. But Farooq Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu-Kashmir state, blamed the Muslim rebels. Jammu-Kashmir is India's only predominantly Muslim state, and Jammu is mostly Hindu.

Mobs attacked police in various parts of Jammu on Saturday, hurling rocks and burning and smashing police cars in protest of the continuing rebel violence. A week ago, gunmen killed seven Hindus.

Many Kashmiri Muslims resent rule by largely Hindu India, and began a rebellion in 1989 that has killed 16,000 people.